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My Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance Experience

I openly hate 2007’s Ghost Rider. I will tell anyone with hear or read lips that the movie was horrible. Outside of the beautiful Eva Mendes, the film was dead to me. Ghost Rider became more than just a bad film, it was the benchmark for any comic book movie. Asking people “Was it as bad as Ghost Rider?” gave me an indication on what type of movie I was in for.

I was out on Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance before I saw a second of the trailer. The stink from 2007 was still on me. You couldn’t pay me to see that movie.

Over the past few months Nic Cage sucked me in. I listed to How Did This Get Made podcast and their guest was Brian Taylor, co-director of Spirit of Vengeance. He sold me on how crazy/fun it was to direct Nic Cage. That interview peaked my interest a little. The same week I saw AMC’s Fist Look (because I’m always early to movies) behind the scenes look at Spirit of Vengeance. My interest went up a little more.

Before I knew it, I had talked myself into. It’s got Stringer Bell as a priest, Nic Cage isn’t always bad, plus it has good special effects. I was sold. The bad memories from 2007 had been erased. I was all in for more Nic Cage in my life.

When I purchased my 3D ticket ($10 for the first show of the day) I had some polite small talk with the guy at the counter and I told him I knew it was going to be bad. His response, “Yeah.” This was definitely not the pat on the back/reassurance I needed. This guy didn’t even try to fake sell the movie. He made some comment about the 3D as I walked away, but it was too late. I could feel the bad movie smell coming back. This was the same theater I watched Skyline and the bad memories started to come back.

When I walked in the theater, there were already two drunk guys in there laughing at anything onscreen. In the minutes leading up to show time, a few more people stumbled in. One guy looked lost, and the other guy looked like he just needed some shelter if you know what I mean.

The opening scene for Spirit of Vengeance was actually pretty good. Idris Elba shows up, there’s some shooting, something about a boy, a car chase, and then the title sequence starts. I was pleasantly surprised that it was that enjoyable. Then it hit me, Nic Cage was nowhere to be seen in the first two minutes.

The rest of my experience shaped out like this:

20 minutes in, the two drunk guys left. How could the two guys who were completely wasted not be able to make it to the 30 minute mark? I was sober and there was no way I was going to last much longer. After those two guys left there was a total of five people in the theater.

After Nadya explains who her son’s dad is, Johnny Blaze says to her “So you’re the Devil’s baby momma”

Christopher Lambert plays a crazy looking tattooed monk

There are two scenes where The Rider pees fire. Yes two. Both are dumb and pointless.

There are three classic Nic Cage freak out moments. They’re almost so bad they’re good. One of his freak outs includes the phrase “HE’S AT THE DOOOOOOR. LET HIM IN. LET HIM IN” referring to the Rider wanting to come out.

During the climactic moment in the film, the kid (played by Fergus Riordan) looks at the devil and says “Like father, like son”, jumps on top of Johnny Blaze, opens his mouth, and flames come shooting out and into Blaze’s mouth. It’s only ridiculous because there is zero reason to believe this kid knows how to do any of this.

The Devil gives Ray the power to decay so he can retrieve the boy. Why the power to decay? How useful is that? I’m still not sure how he got the boy in the ambulance because he can’t touch him.

Whenever Decay Ray showed up to touch people, the movie did this annoying effect where the entire scene is black and it looks like a dream sequence with just Ray and whoever was about to die. Trust me; it’s more annoying than it sounds.

At the end of the film, the boy is still alive and Ghost Rider is chasing the car down to get him from the Devil. The Rider throws his chain under the car and flips it down a hill about 100 times. When he gets the boy out of the car, he’s dead. Or course he’s dead. The car cart wheeled down a hill at full speed. The Rider had the nerve to be shocked the kid was dead. Don’t worry, he brings him back to life after touching him with his blue hand.

I know I’ve should’ve known better. It’s Nic Cage + Ghost Rider + the guys who directed Crank + 3D. How was it going to equal anything but a bad movie. What can I say, I’m an optimist. I still think the Lakers have a chance to win the title, pretty girls don’t go #2, DC Comics will give us a Justice League movie, and every time I watch Training Day I think Alonzo isn’t going to leave Hoyt behind.

For what it’s worth, Spirit of Vengeance is right in Nic Cage’s wheelhouse. I’m not sure there’s another actor on earth who can pull this off. The movies not bad if you lower your expectations, go in large group, and pretend it’s a comedy. I promise it’s much more enjoyable that way.

Note: This is a seattlepi.com reader blog. It is not written or edited by the P-I. The authors are solely responsible for content. E-mail us at newmedia@seattlepi.com if you consider a post inappropriate.